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The global plant-based meat alternative market as a whole

is estimated to reach USD 3.5 billion (EUR 3.2 billion) in

2020, and is projected to grow at a rate of 17 percent between

2019 and 2021, according to ResearchAndMarkets.com. The

research firm said that North America stands to be the largest

and fastest-growing market for plant-based meat alternatives

during the forecast period, as it has the presence of several

key regional players. Retailers on the continent have also

been extending shelf and storage space for plant-based meat

analogs, ResearchAndMarkets noted.

Data published in the summer of 2019 by the Plant

Based Foods Association (PBFA) and the Good Food Institute

(GFI), commissioned from wellness-focused data technology

company SPINS, showed that the plant-based food category

erupted by 31 percent into a USD 4.5 billion (EUR 4.01 billion)

industry from 2016 to 2018 in the U.S., with 11 percent of that

growth occurring in 2018 alone.

Those numbers have held consistent through 2019, SPINS

found in its most recent analysis. Grocery sales of plant-based

foods that directly replace animal products have grown 29

percent over the past two years in the U.S., with 11 percent

of that growth occurring in just 2019, according to SPINS data

released by GFI on 3 March, 2020.

While plant-based milk products dominate the sector,

plant-based meat and protein alternatives, including

seafood-inspired options, are contributing consistently to

the category’s growth. The plant-based meat and seafood

alternatives segment, on its own, is worth more than USD

939 million (EUR 870 million), SPINS researchers found, with

sales up by 18 percent in the last year and over 208 million

MARKET OVERVIEW: PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ALTERNATIVESOver the course of the past several years, plant-based food alternative developers have burst onto the scene in the protein market, causing the global seafood industry to pause and take notice.

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units sold. Currently, plant-based meats account for 2 percent of

retail packaged meat sales in the U.S., according to the SPINS figures

released in 2020. (Note: Plant-based seafood alternatives were counted

with plant-based meat alternatives for the sake of the study).

Plant-based food producers have introduced a slew of product

innovations worldwide, including those imitating seafood, to tap

into the emerging market. In February 2020, German frozen food

company FRoSTA Foodservice launched a new range of vegan plant-

based seafood alternatives to capitalize on a growing consumer trend

for more protein variety, the company said.

Released under FRoSTA’s “Fisch vom Feld” (Fish from the Field)

brand, the products include vegan pre-baked plant-based fish cakes,

vegan pre-fried breaded plant-based fish, and vegan pre-fried crispy

breaded plant-based fillets. Each product is made with various light

vegetables, hemp protein, and linseed oil as an omega-3 source,

according to a report from vegan business magazine, Vegconomist.

“We have been developing for a

long time, because our claim is always

to do without aromas, colorings, and

flavor enhancers or yeast extract. Now

we have done it, we have created

a plant-based fish product that

completely satisfies our high demands.

And that is what the gastronome can

expect from FRoSTA. Now every day

is ‘fish-free day,’” FRoSTA Foodservice

Managing Director Burkhard Gabbe

told Vegconomist.

FRoSTA has joined a small, but

growing group of developers creating

products that imitate seafood offerings.

Good Catch, for one, has been at the

fore of plant-based seafood alternative

development since 2018, when it secured USD 8.7 million (EUR 7.5

million) in funding to start distributing its plant-based tuna pouches

and other products.

“The relentless and indiscriminate killing of marine life is

devastating ocean ecosystems,” Good Catch co-founders and co-CEOs

Chris Kerr and Eric Schnell said in a joint statement in April 2018. “The

only truly sustainable seafood is seafood that allows fish to remain

in the ocean. It is abundantly clear that we need a new approach to

seafood.”

Good Catch offers imitation seafood products made from beans:

about 40 percent pea, with the rest being soy, chickpea, lentil, fava,

and navy. The special ingredient that differentiates the products from

a run-of-the-mill soy burger is sea algae oil, which contains omega-3

fatty acids. Good Catch’s imitation tuna packets come in three flavors:

Mediterranean, Oil & Herbs, and Naked in Water. The firm has also

created other bean-based products that act as analogs for crab cakes,

fish sliders, and burgers.

New York City, New York, U.S.A.-based Ocean Hugger Foods,

another seafood analog developer, has also seen its share of

investment, having completed its third early-stage venture capital

funding round in January 2019, netting USD 2.88 million (EUR 2.57

million). That doesn’t include the additional USD 250,000 (EUR

222,800) the business received in March 2019 from Kale United AB,

a Swedish investment firm focused on plant-based businesses. The

company’s main product, “Ahimi,” is made from tomato, soy sauce,

water, sugar, and sesame oil, and is meant to resemble ahi tuna.

Berkeley, California, U.S.A.-based Prime Roots said in February

2020 that it was ramping up production capacity as it plans to roll out

a line of plant-based seafood and meat analog products. The supplier,

formerly known as Terramino Foods, said it developed the first plant-

based salmon burger in 2018 before it opted to develop a full line of

plant-based seafood alternatives that includes shrimp, lobster, and

tuna, SeafoodSource reported.

Back in 2016, startup company Impossible Foods launched its

very first product, the Impossible Burger – a patty made from plants,

“for people who love to eat meat.” Since then, the company has seen

its premier offering take off via a partnership with global fast food

giant Burger King. Coming off of its initial success, Impossible Foods

has been exploring other categories for plant-based development,

experimenting with what it calls “fishless fish” and even trialing an

anchovy-flavored broth made from plants for use in paella dishes,

according to a report from The New York Times.

The company confirmed to SeafoodSource in 2019 that it was

exploring seafood flavor profiles for potential future products.

“Our work so far has focused on analyzing the flavor of fish, which

can be reproduced using heme. In case [you’re] unfamiliar, heme is a

protein molecule that is found in all living things – both plants and

animals – and is what makes meat taste and look like meat. It is well-

known as the molecule that carries oxygen in our blood and is vital

for life; it is also a flavor catalyst that generates meaty flavor when

heated. Heme is particularly abundant in meat, and is a direct source

of iron,” Impossible Foods said.

Meeting in the middleAs the plant-based meat and seafood analog segment has

grown, traditional seafood suppliers have recognized an opportunity

in the space.

Gathered Foods, the developer of plant-based seafood analogs

under the Good Catch brand, recently found a seafood industry ally

in Thai Union Group’s Bumble Bee Foods. On 2 March, 2020, the

companies announced their joint distribution venture, a partnership

that will see Bumble Bee “leverage its sales, distribution and logistics

expertise to ensure that consumers nationwide have access to Good

Catch products at affordable prices.”

MARKET OVERVIEW: PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ALTERNATIVES

“Good Catch’s imitation tuna packets come in three flavors: Mediterranean, Oil & Herbs, and Naked in Water.”

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Jen Lamy Good Food Institute

“Consumers are demanding a wider range of products, including plant-based seafood.”

Later on that same month,

Bumble Bee Foods President and CEO

Jan Tharp joined Gathered Foods’

board of directors, an appointment

that will see Tharp offering advice

to the plant-based analog producer,

drawing from her extensive seafood

sector experience.

“I’m proud to join Gathered

Foods’ board of directors and look

forward to the opportunity to

work with the esteemed group in

an official capacity,” Tharp said in

March of this year. “We have a shared

commitment to find innovative

solutions that will continue to

bring value to our consumers and

to the food industry. Our recently

announced joint venture with Good

Catch is one example, and I know there will be more to come.”

Spotsylvania, Virginia, U.S.A.-based The Van Cleve Seafood Co. has

become a unique entrant into the plant-based seafood analog sector

as well – in October 2019, the company became the first seafood

product manufacturer to produce plant-based seafood items.

“It [plant-based foods] is exploding; it is not a trend or a fad, it is

the future and the future is now,” Shelly Van Cleve, co-owner and vice

president of product development for The Van Cleve Seafood Co., told

SeafoodSource in October 2019.

Specializing in traditional “indulgent” seafood offerings, such as

its Oprah Winfrey-endorsed Blue Crab Pie for retail and foodservice,

the company has rolled out Plant-based Crab-less Cake and Plant-

based Pink Shrimp made from superfoods to appeal to an expanding,

wellness-minded consumer demographic.

“The millennials in our family-owned company are the trailblazers.

They shop differently than I do for themselves and their families. They

have young children now and look at the health benefits of foods on

labels,” Van Cleve said.

The Van Cleve Seafood Co. has also released its New England

Haddock with self-activating superfood coatings in three flavors –

Mango Lime Poblano, Cranberry Orange Rosemary, and Sweet Curry

Coconut – to capture this same group. Ultimately, the company

decided to enter into the plant-

based seafood analog market to stay ahead of the curve and give

customers additional choices.

“It’s an evolution going on; it’s giving consumers a choice. We

have a real crab cake and a plant-based crab cake,” Van Cleve noted.

“There are a lot of flexitarians who are putting more plant-based

products in their diets.”

Jen Lamy, the Sustainable Seafood Initiative Manager at the

Good Food Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion

plant-based and cellular alternatives to seafood, meat, dairy, and

eggs, corroborated Van Cleve’s observation to SeafoodSource in

March of this year.

“Consumers are demanding a

wider range of products, including

plant-based seafood,” Lamy

confirmed. “Conventional seafood

companies should get involved

and expand options for consumers,

instead of taking a defensive stance

that strips consumers of the choices

they are requesting.”

Terms and conditionsPoints of contention between

the seafood industry and plant-

based seafood alternative makers

have arisen as the market has grown.

Egil Ove Sundheim, the U.S.

director of the Norwegian Seafood

Council (NSC) – which has been

working directly with American consumers in recent years, to

understand what drives and deters modern seafood purchasing –

declared in early 2019 that “origin matters for the end-consumers.” As

such, it worried him how incoming plant-based seafood alternative

developers could be creating undue confusion with the words they

used to market their products.

“We know origin matters – that’s our starting point,” he said. “And

that’s why I’m also a little concerned about some vegan/vegetarian

products now coming onto market that are labeled as ‘salmon’ or

‘tuna’ or… ‘finless fish.’ I think the industry will have to watch out

for what’s going on right now because the definition of salmon, the

definition of tuna, is being challenged.”

Requirements set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

determine “what a product should be to be called salmon or to be

called tuna, and these products do not fulfill those requirements,”

Sundheim said. “I think that we [as an industry] have to be aware that

this is going on. We have products now using our terminology…that

are defined by the FDA not to be what they’re claiming to be. We

need, as an industry, to raise our voice.”

“If nobody raises their voice about it, we might end up in a similar

situation as milk did a few years back when soy milk and almond

milk were introduced, claiming a part of the milk category and even

claiming a part of the milk cooler,” he added.

Plant Based Foods Association Executive Director Michele

Jan Tharp Bumble Bee Foods

“We have a shared commitment to find innovative solutions that will continue to bring value to our consumers and to the food industry.”

Photo courtesy of The Van Cleve Seafood Co.

“The millennials in our family-owned company are the trailblazers.”

MARKET OVERVIEW: PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ALTERNATIVES

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Simon confirmed that issues surrounding the labeling of plant-based

seafood alternatives have indeed come up for the organization and

its seafood-inspired members.

“One thing that has come up [with plant-based seafood

alternatives] is the labeling issue,” Simon said. “We work with our

members closely to ensure that they are using proper qualifiers and

are being clear. But we are already seeing some pushback from the

fish industry, similar to what we’ve seen from the milk and meat

industries.”

National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim

Mulhern urged the seafood industry to fight back in January 2020

against plant-based analog developers

making marketing claims that they are

superior to seafood.

“[We] don’t [want them to] use dairy

terminology if the product doesn’t have

dairy in it. If it has the same nutrition, call

it a substitute. If it’s nutritionally inferior,

it’s supposed to be called an imitation.

That’s the law, it’s just not being enforced.

Across the board for all of us, the issue is

that consumer deception is at play here.

These products have

every right to be in the

marketplace – it’s a

free marketplace – just

don’t be deceptive.

Don’t call something

what it’s not,” Mulhern

said during a panel

titled “Fishless Fish:

The impact of plant-

based and cell

cultured products

on traditional seafood and other proteins,” which was covered by

SeafoodSource at the beginning of the year.

According to Simon, whether it’s labeling plant-based seafood

alternatives or knowing how to promote them competitively, much

of the segment remains unchartered territory.

“For meat, the health proposition is clearer – red meat and

processed meats, in particular, have been identified as causing

diseases and not being good for you in certain quantities. With

seafood, the issue is less about health… and more about the

environmental impact and overfishing, and so forth,” she said.

In March 2020, Lamy told SeafoodSource that GFI didn’t have

reason to believe that consumers were confused by the labeling

currently being used to describe plant-based foods.

“We have no reason to believe that the public will be confused

about products labeled using species names like ‘plant-based shrimp’

or ‘vegan tuna,’” she said. “And when cultivated seafood comes to

market, labeling them as anything other than the species to which

they are exactly identical would be misleading – and possibly

dangerous – to consumers.”

However, National Fisheries

Institute (NFI) Vice President of

Communications Gavin Gibbons

had a different take, citing a new

study commissioned by the seafood

industry and conducted by the

public relations firm FoodMinds,

which found between 29 percent

and 35 percent of consumers

surveyed believed plant-based

imitation seafood products

contained actual seafood, with an additional 6 percent to 8 percent

“simply unsure what they contained.”

“To suggest there’s no evidence that consumers are confused is

a huge overreach,” Gibbons told SeafoodSource in March. “But let’s

put regulation and communication in perspective for a minute. The

statement of identity on a package is supposed to tell a consumer

what is in the package, as opposed to what is not in the package. By

example ‘Vegan Shrimp,’ that contains no shrimp, is not only confusing

it fails that test spectacularly.”

NFI has said it defers to the U.S. government – either on the

federal, or barring a decision by Congress, at the state level – as to

how plant-based products are labeled. In an op-ed in the St. Louis

Post-Dispatch, the organization’s president John Connelly confirmed

that stance.

“Would regulators allow Kia to produce a car it simply decided

to call a Tesla but was not fancy, not electric, and had no brand

relationship to the other well-known automaker? Could Kia

argue in court its First Amendment rights were being infringed

upon by regulation that stopped it from stealing another product’s

identity? A case like this would be laughed out of court,” Connelly

wrote. “Plant-based alternative products that attempt to mimic

seafood have a place in today’s grocery store and on the modern

menu. There is undoubtedly room for them in a space that is trying

to feed a growing world. Nevertheless, there is little room for the

alternative regulatory reality they seek when it comes to labeling.”

As both the seafood industry and the plant-based food

alternative market continue to expand and evolve, consumer

preferences will play a pivotal role in guiding them both. Ultimately,

whether in seafood or with plant-based protein analogs, one

thing seems for certain: The customer is always right, and always

changing.

A NEW STUDY CONDUCTED BY THE PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRM FOODMINDS FOUND:

OF CONSUMERS SURVEYED BELIEVED PLANT-BASED IMITATION SEAFOOD PRODUCTS CONTAINED ACTUAL SEAFOOD

29-35%

OF CONSUMERS WERE ‘SIMPLY UNSURE WHAT [PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ANALOGS] CONTAINED

6-8%

MARKET OVERVIEW: PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ALTERNATIVES

Gavin Gibbons National Fisheries Institute

“The statement of identity on a package is supposed to tell a consumer what is in the package, as opposed to what is not in the package.”

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Consumer considerationsPBFA Executive Director Michele Simon told SeafoodSource

in 2019 that health-conscious consumers, especially those

counted among the younger generations, play a big role in

establishing sector demand for plant-based food providers.

“Health was pointed to as the number-one driver for why

consumers are interested in shifting away, particularly from

meat and protein animal products, towards plant-based

options in general,” Simon said.

“The fact that it tastes good” is also a primary motivating

factor for consumers as far as plant-based products

are concerned, Simon added.

As with seafood, taste, price, and ease of

preparation are cited by Jen Lamy, the Sustainable

Seafood Initiative Manager at GFI, as key drivers

steering consumer choice when it comes to plant-

based protein products.

“Regardless of what people tell pollsters, studies

of what people actually choose to eat (‘revealed

preference’) consistently show that taste, price, and

convenience determine what most people eat,” Lamy said.

“Successful plant-based products are appealing to consumers

on those attributes more than ever. These products are

also appealing to meat-eaters looking to reduce their meat

consumption. In fact, Beyond Meat found that 93 percent of the

consumers buying the Beyond Burger also had conventional

meat in their carts.”

Appealing to younger demographics is of the utmost

importance to plant-based food producers of all types,

according to PBFA, which has a membership network consisting

of plant-based seafood alternative providers such as Good

Catch, Ocean Hugger Foods, and Fry Family Foods.

Although the plant-based seafood alternatives segment is

small, Lamy said it’s being viewed as an area of tremendous

opportunity.

“Plant-based seafood is a small, but growing

segment of the overall market,” Lamy said in 2019.

“While plant-based beef and chicken products are

relatively common, categories like fish and shellfish

are underrepresented in the plant-based market.

While retailers carry an average of 41 plant-based

milk products, they carry an average of 24 plant-

based meat and seafood products. Plant-based fish

and shellfish present a massive market opportunity,

especially with growing unmet demand for seafood

globally.”

About USD 9.4 million (EUR 8.4 million), or 1.2 percent, of

total plant-based meat dollar sales come from plant-based

seafood alternatives in the U.S., according to earlier figures cited

by Lamy in 2019, and around 95 percent of plant-based seafood

alternative sales are achieved via frozen products.

“Taste, price, and convenience determine what most people eat.”

93%

of consumers buying the Beyond Burger also had conventional meat in their carts.

MARKET OVERVIEW: PLANT-BASED SEAFOOD ALTERNATIVES

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